University Town Summer Business Doldrums Worse This Year In Illinois

Summer is always a quieter time on college campuses. Most students go home for a summer job or take an internship elsewhere. Faculty and staff typically have less to do on campus. Some might even leave town for a vacation.

For three months of the year, the local businesses and industries that profit from the needs and wants of the university community adjust.

But in the middle of an unprecedented time in Illinois, when the state doesn’t have nearly to enough money on hand to pay for what it’s promised, the future of Illinois’ public universities is unclear. And that did not leave much wiggle room for those businesses that have built up around the schools. IPR's Hannah Meisel reports.

The president of Illinois State University sees the future of higher education funding in Illinois based on performance rather than need. During Sound Ideas, Larry Dietz said most of the discussions on potential funding scenarios in a "post-stopgap world" involve rewarding schools that perform well.

"From a long-term planning perspective, there hasn't been much of a discussion based on a needs-based criteria. That's been more of political reaction to fiscal realities at some of the other institutions," Dietz said.

The parent company of the Bloomington Pantagraph Newspaper says it has made substantial inroads in paying off its debt.

In the latest quarterly financial reports, Lee Enterprises says it continues to use all its available cash to reduce debt, more than sixteen million dollars in the last quarter and eighty six million dollars in the first three quarters of the year. Lee still owes more than 640 million dollars.